STOCKBRIDGE, MI – It looks like a lot of fun, but some might wonder how building a roller coaster out of cardboard, foam pipe insulation, marbles, plastic tubing and parts and pieces of a lot of other things can teach Heritage Elementary School students anything at all.

Listen closely, though, and it’s evident that this project in the Heritage Exploratory Academy classrooms of Josh Nichols, Mike Gurecki and Travis Sparks is full of reading, writing, science, technology, engineering, math, physics, history and art.

“I love it,” said 9-year-old fifth-grader Zack Wilson. “We do more hands-on things and we don’t do paper work so much. We don’t have to sit at a desk all the time.”

The academy is an alternative learning area inside the school for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders. Students are recommended for it based on academics, individual learning styles, behavior and other factors, said Principal Jim Kelly.

Molly Nichols, 10, a fifth grader and Dylan Powers, 9, work to unwrap a piece of art that was donated to Heritage Elementary School in Stockbridge on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013. (J. Scott Park | MLIve.com)

“They get the same content as the other classes,” Kelly said. “It’s just a different delivery.”

Art is an important part of all of the academy’s project-based lessons, Nichols said. Because of that April Keiser, mother of student Wilem Trevisan, entered the school into Art.com’s nationwide fall Art Sparks Learning campaign.

The academy was picked one of six finalists, which entitled it to 20 framed art prints valued at about $3,500 that will be placed in areas of high student traffic, Kelly said.

As a finalist, the school also is in the running for a grand prize of $1,000 in art supplies. The winner will be the school that gets the most online votes at www.art.com/artsparks. Voting ends Thursday, Oct. 10.

In the roller coaster project, students researched roller coasters and how they are engineered. Then, they picked a theme for their own coaster.

Some used history lessons, such as the sunken Great Lakes freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald, while others used animals and others used mythology. They had to write a story about their coaster and its theme, and then they had to create it using measurements and materials that would make it actually work.

“Our base was four feet and we figured out that wouldn’t work and we needed five feet, so we had to add onto it,” said 9-year-old fifth-grader Kylin Heidrich.

Second-graders will judge the finished coasters to pick a winner, Nichols said.

Other academy projects include a living wax museum, robotics, composting and growing plants to sell at the Stockbridge Farmers Market and raising salmon that are released into the Grand River.

“Industry is telling us that they need workers who can perform in real-life situations, and that’s what we believe we are helping to create here,” Nichols said.

— Know of a unique or interesting classroom or project in any Jackson-area school? Let me know about it for this In the Classroom feature, which runs weekly during the school year. Contact Leanne Smith, education reporter, at 262-0720 or lsmith12@mlive.com.